Cloudy With a Chance of Books

From the first sentence I knew what this book would be about.  “Katie Woo’s dog, Goldie, was very old.”

Goldie passes away and the book encompasses Katie’s grieving process.  At first she is very sad and needs her mother.  Then she turns to her friends to remember the happy and silly moments of Goldie’s life.  Finally, she decides to create a scrapbook of memories that celebrate Goldie’s long and happy life.  At the end she kisses a photo of Goldie and promises not to forget her.

It is a simple & familiar story, but a very good treatment of pet death for a kindergarten to 2nd grader.  The language is simple enough for beginning readers to read independently and it will be comforting for children who’ve lost a pet to see someone in their position.  The book may also be a good starting point for children with older pets to begin thinking about pet loss. After the story is over, the book includes a section with discussion questions, writing prompts and a guide to making your own scrapbook.  The Katie Woo series is positioned to be good for groups of kids to discuss.  Adults running book discussions with beginning readers should check out Katie Woo.  32p., 2009.

Cybils nominee for Easy Readers/Short Chapter Books category.

Ruby has too many boys vying for her attention and it is causing her troubles with her girl friends. If she could sort her feelings out, which is proving hard, she’d realize artistic Noel is the boy she really would like to date. Unfortunately, her splendid friend, Nora, has been crushing on Noel for forever and has specifically asked Ruby to not steal him. It doesn’t feel like Ruby can find happiness without hurting someone and the result is panic attacks in the hallways of high school.

Ruby aka Roo makes me feel sympathy for a girl who has too many boys interested in her and panics about what to do to keep her friends and what’s left of her reputation. Given that this was not so much my high school experience (I was more like Roo’s friend Nora often in a state Roo describes as “Noboyfriend”), it is impressive that Ruby’s troubles resonated with me. I love the details and humor. Even secondary characters like Roo’s parents feel real. One particularly funny bit – Roo does not like the sound of puberty and decides to use the phrase “mocha latte” which sounds much nicer instead. This leads to her realization that the sophomore boys have gotten cuter since they’ve gotten through mocha latte and makes her bemoan how much simpler life was before mocha latte. Lockhart is very funny and Ruby’s dilemmas make a great read. The ending is happy, but does not oversimplify which pleased me.

While part of a series, I think the book stands well on it’s own (I hadn’t read Ruby’s other stories before picking this up). Though once read, it makes me want to go back and read more about Ruby. 244p., 2009.

Becca needs to share whatever is on her mind. When she overshares about her new boyfriend’s inability to use his tongue properly in the art of french kissing, she finds herself dumped. Now, she knows she hurt the boy, but she can’t help feeling hurt herself by the dumping. Becca resolves to watch what she says. During this part of the book the author includes what Becca said and what she would have said if she weren’t watching her words – this device leads to a very funny internal teen monologue. In order to let out what she’s thinking Becca begins an anonymous blog and writes about her fantasies, her friends, and her enemies. When the secret blog stops being a secret, Becca has to deal with taunting from class bullies and the feelings of the friends whose secrets she shared unwittingly. 302p., 2009

Things I liked about this book –

1) Becca had big trouble in high school without confronting the teen hardcore issues (violence, being sexually active, drugs, drinking). Now she talked about sex and parties where the drinking happened (not that she was invited to those), but she was an honor student who still managed to mess up BIG TIME.
2) The adults in the book were supportive – most especially Becca’s stepdad. It was refreshing to see a step parent so involved in raising a teen. The adults in the book did not swoop in and solve things for Becca, but her parents wanted to help and were not part of her problems. Okay, there was a principal who did little to help Becca with verbal bullying, but that felt realistic.
3) Becca was VERY self-centered in a teen way without being shallow. Some of the most powerful moments in the book were when she realized how things must feel for other characters.
4) The characters had a thing for baking and I made brownies to go with my reading of the book. I highly recommend baked goods on hand while reading as the teen kitchen baking sessions will make you crave them.
5) The book had a happy ending without being too unrealistically perfect or neat.
6) Becca learned and grew, but in an organic way that didn’t feel have that “see, what we’ve learned” pedantic twinge.
7) What a great answer to the Gossip Girl novels. Becca wreaks almost as much havoc, but instead of snarky Manhattan girls who are mean to be mean – she is a small town midwestern girl who never meant to hurt anyone.
8 FUNNY! Becca was funny. The book was funny. I smiled often. Becca had petty thoughts about people without seeming petty herself. Her observations about the high school social scene in a small town seemed spot on.

Recommended to teens (or teen fiction fans who are older) looking for realistic fiction with a good heart and a lot of humor.

Violet and Lottie have always been best friends. They spend hours together and things in her small town are just the way Violet likes them. When city girl Melissa moves to town, she brings with her sophistication and new ideas about hair, make-up and boys. Violet isn’t at the center of things anymore and she fears Melissa will take her place as Lottie’s new best friend. Complicating things further is her relationship with Eddie a local boy who Melissa has a crush on, but prefers Violet’s company. Is he more than a friend to Violet? A lightning strike brings a devastating fire that leaves Lottie homeless and Violet determined to help Lottie’s family.

This book puts two girls’ friendship front and center. The strains of new friends and diverging interests push Violet and Lottie apart in their last summer together before starting Junior High. Violet is feisty enough to be mean to those who step on her turf. Violet is hard not to like even when she is screwing things up. The friendship felt real and I think plenty of girls getting ready to leave elementary school behind will understand just how Violet feels. 162p., 2008